Recruiting and Retaining the Right People in Long-Term Care

In nursing homes, the quality of care starts with the people delivering it. Yet staffing remains one of the most persistent and difficult challenges facilities face, especially when turnover is high, recruiting is reactive, and burnout is common. The solution isn’t just hiring more people, it’s hiring the right people and creating the conditions that make them want to stay.

At Qsource, we work alongside nursing homes to help them move beyond short-term staffing fixes and toward long-term, sustainable workforce strategies rooted in culture, values, and operational alignment.

The Real Cost of Turnover

Turnover in long-term care isn’t just a staffing issue. It’s a quality, compliance, and cost issue. Facilities that experience high turnover often face:

• Inconsistent care delivery
• Poor documentation and communication
• Increased survey deficiencies
• Low morale among remaining staff
• Higher recruitment and training costs

It also affects residents, who rely on continuity, familiarity, and trust. When staffing changes frequently, it becomes harder to build those relationships, and easier for small issues to escalate into major problems.

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Recruiting for Mission-Fit, Not Just Availability

Too often, recruitment efforts focus solely on filling vacancies quickly. While understandable, that approach can lead to repeated cycles of hiring and quitting. Successful recruitment in long-term care starts with attracting candidates who align with the mission of caregiving.

What this looks like in practice:

• Clear job descriptions that reflect your facility’s values and expectations
• Interview questions that assess empathy, teamwork, and accountability
• Onboarding that communicates not just the what of the job, but the why
• Highlighting career growth, mentorship, and support early in the process

Facilities that focus on mission-fit often experience better engagement, faster onboarding success, and higher retention — especially among CNAs and nurses.

Culture as a Recruitment and Retention Tool

Culture isn’t just an internal value, it’s a recruiting asset. Candidates want to work in environments where their work is respected, their voices are heard, and they feel part of something meaningful.

A healthy workplace culture helps:

• Attract top candidates who want to work where people care
• Retain staff by creating an environment they’re proud of
• Reduce conflict, absenteeism, and burnout
• Improve resident satisfaction and survey outcomes

Qsource helps facilities identify culture gaps and strengthen leadership practices that reinforce consistency, respect, and staff empowerment across departments.

How Qsource Supports Sustainable Staffing Strategies

Our approach to workforce stability goes beyond compliance checklists. We work alongside leadership to develop practical strategies that reflect the facility’s goals and community.

Services may include:

• Workforce assessments to identify trends in turnover and engagement
• Coaching for managers and supervisors to build leadership skills
• Assistance in aligning recruitment practices with culture and values
• Tools to evaluate onboarding effectiveness and competency validation
• Guidance for retention initiatives grounded in staff feedback

We don’t offer one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, we help facilities build sustainable systems, from recruitment to retention, that reflect who they are and where they want to go.

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The First Step Toward Long-Term Success

Recruitment and retention are not one-time projects. They’re ongoing commitments that affect every aspect of resident care and operational performance. Facilities that succeed long-term are those that take a strategic, people-first approach.

At Qsource, we help nursing homes build the staffing foundation they need to thrive, by supporting strong leaders, clear expectations, and workplace cultures that people want to be a part of.